Chapter 2251: Tiger in Human Skin

Gong Zhiliang's Dao Yuan were utterly defeated. The light of his divine powers couldn't condense, and his golden body jade marrow fundamentally couldn't withstand a single blow.

He was firmly pressed on the ground, and where Ge Fei's five fingers pressed, bloodstains spread.

This esteemed Prime Minister of Yue Country, utterly powerless to resist, lay on the ground, his eyes rolling. He extended a finger, pointing to his neck, indicating he wanted to speak.

Only then did Ge Fei slightly loosen his grip, but sharp nails still pressed against Gong Zhiliang's throat. A sharp qi had already penetrated the skin, causing Gong Zhiliang to feel a knife-like pain with every breath.

Gong Zhiliang exhaled painfully. Although he had walked the edge of life and death and still hadn't escaped danger, he calmly asked at this moment, "Why are you angry?"

"You all almost killed me!!"

This old man's calm expression was truly hateful. Ge Fei instantly became agitated again, almost crushing the old man's neck on the spot.

If Bai Yuxia had wanted to kill him just now, he would have had only one outcome: death!

The only difference was whether he would choose to be killed by Bai Yuxia without resisting or resist and then be killed by Jiang Wang.

What world's first heavenly pride? He actually acted like Bai Yuxia's follower, coming when called. Ge Fei couldn't understand who was whose retainer.

But Jiang Wang was good, and Bai Yuxia was good, they could all be considered summoned by this old man.

How dare this old man still ask like this?!

Gong Zhiliang's face turned from red to swollen to purple, making it impossible for him to speak.

Ge Fei's pair of bewildered, foolish eyes were invaded by the violence belonging to the monsters of the mountains and seas. But amidst such violent killing intent, Ge Fei's five fingers didn't press down; instead, they loosened by half an inch.

"Hu hu, hu." Gong Zhiliang laughed with a bit of relief, "It's good that you can calm down."

"It's not your turn to evaluate me," Ge Fei said coldly.

"Bai Yuxia won't kill you." Gong Zhiliang's tone was firm. "I watched him grow up. He's a very proud child. He won't draw his sword against a fool."

Ge Fei's eyes were very dangerous. "You're betting your life on your understanding?"

"Just now I also bet my own life," Gong Zhiliang said calmly. "I bet on whether you learned to calm down."

Ge Fei laughed coldly, "Good, good! You're truly not afraid of death!"

Gong Zhiliang said, "If you're always so irrational, we fundamentally have no hope. What difference does it make if I die today or tomorrow?"

Ge Fei pinched Gong Zhiliang's neck, lifted him up, and held him high in the fine rain-filled air. He just stared at him coldly like that.

Gong Zhiliang also calmly stared back.

Ge Fei slowly loosened his hand, and Gong Zhiliang also let out a breath.

But that loosened hand suddenly lifted again—

Ge Fei backhanded a slap, sending Gong Zhiliang flying high up! He tumbled dozens of times in the air, fresh blood splattering, blood-stained teeth breaking through the rain mist.

The disheveled Ge Fei, like a ghostly lion, roared angrily, "You all almost killed me, I can still endure. But you all violated teacher's meaning!"

Gong Zhiliang fell heavily to the ground, vomiting blood non-stop.

But after resting for a bit, he slowly crawled up and laughed with gratification, "High Xiang taught you very well. The biggest difference between humans and beasts is that humans know how to be hypocritical. And you've already seen through this point! Using High Xiang's name, you should even kill me! My heart is very comforted!"

"Hypocritical?" Ge Fei grinned and laughed, carrying the iron chain. He boldly sat down in front of the Bao Jie tree. "You say this is my excuse. Are you telling me that you and my senior brother both don't know teacher's meaning? Don't know why he let Bai Yuxia leave initially?"

Gong Zhiliang didn't speak, only used his sleeve to slowly wipe the blood from his mouth.

Ge Fei continued, "Very obviously, teacher wants to preserve Yue Country's fire seed, because this is the most dangerous game, he has to consider the possibility of failure. So he repeatedly stopped you all from forcing Bai Yuxia back to the country—you didn't not understand, you had your own ideas!"

Gong Zhiliang didn't explain. After wiping the fresh blood clean, he turned and left. "High Xiang said you should learn to appreciate food. Eat meals while they are hot, they will get cold if you wait."

"Also!" Ge Fei laughed from behind, "If Yue Country is gone, and you are all gone, what do we need a fire seed for? What's the point?"

Gong Zhiliang never turned back.

"Ah haha!" Ge Fei laughed strangely. "Wang Gong is noble in front of the hall, and the General is famous under his horse! Compared to those surnamed Wen, surprisingly, it's my teacher who loves this country more."

He raised his head, his gaze seeming to pass through the dense Bao Jie tree canopy, casting towards the sky. He murmured, "Teacher, you were right, being human is really complex."

"Sit down, let's have a bowl of soup together."

In the Great Yue Imperial Palace, Wen Jingxiu very naturally served a bowl of soup and placed it in the opposite position. "High Xiang previously prescribed this formula to calm the mind. These days, I've been feeling a bit restless... Prime Minister must also be having trouble sleeping well these days!"

High Zheng was a famous all-talented person. He was proficient in classics, history, philosophy, and collections, and was a national level expert in medicine, witchcraft, chess, and painting. The formula he prescribed was naturally extremely good.

Gong Zhiliang bowed in thanks and sat down tentatively. "This minister is broad-minded, eats well and sleeps well."

Wen Jingxiu was a refined but not extravagant king. He ate his meals at this warm hall throughout the spring, and only needed such a small round table.

True cultivators naturally don't need five grains. What he ate and drank was all for cultivation nourishment.

"Broad-minded enough to accommodate the world!" Wen Jingxiu drank a spoonful of soup, then said, "How is my junior brother recently?"

Gong Zhiliang held the edge of the bowl and said seriously, "This minister now feels he is very frightening."

"Prime Minister, please elaborate," Wen Jingxiu said.

Gong Zhiliang said, "This minister used to view him as a fierce tiger, separated by a cage and wanting to devour. Today, I see the cage door has been opened, and the tiger is wearing human skin!"

Wen Jingxiu asked, "What frightens you is that he is wearing human skin?"

Gong Zhiliang said with lingering fear, "I am frightened that he has become a true human!"

Wen Jingxiu used ivory chopsticks to pick up a piece of soup bone, carefully gnawed it clean, then used a cloth to wipe his mouth and said, "We also kill lives, and we also have survival of the fittest. Only beasts eat raw blood, while we know how to fry and stew—Ge Fei now also knows how to use ivory chopsticks and hold a white jade spoon. This is good, he is still usable, he is one of us."

Gong Zhiliang sighed, "This is entirely High Xiang's educational achievement. If it were me, it would be fundamentally impossible to subdue this kind of monster."

Wen Jingxiu put down the ivory chopsticks and suddenly sighed, "Qiantang's water is shallow, ultimately it cannot raise a nine-heavens divine dragon. If High Xiang hadn't been born in Yue Country, why worry about not reaching the peak? I will always remember that it was Yue Country that let him down!"

Gong Zhiliang looked at the emperor. "Your Majesty, restrain your grief. High Xiang knows your intent, and should rest in peace."

"What is my, Wen Jingxiu's, gratitude? High Xiang would not care about these," Wen Jingxiu said. "He planned for Yue Country his whole life. Only when Yue Country reaches the position he expected can he rest in peace."

Gong Zhiliang asked, "On the way to the palace, this old minister was thinking. Letting the Bai family child return outside in the past, did High Xiang have other arrangements?"

Wen Jingxiu said, "If he didn't tell you and me, then it is unrelated to you and me."

Gong Zhiliang thought for a bit, still saying, "I wanted to say, whether our arrangements will interfere with his elder's layouts. This old minister is of limited talent, and fears harming the intent of heaven and earth."

Wen Jingxiu waved his hand. "Without High Xiang, we have no chess to play. But if we follow the score for everything, we also have no need to play chess."

Gong Zhiliang bowed. "Then this minister will continue."

"Wait a moment," Wen Jingxiu said. "Wait until Jiang Wang leaves, then continue."

Gong Zhiliang said, "This minister also thinks so."

As Ge Fei said, High Zheng perhaps had other arrangements for Bai Yuxia, but Wen Jingxiu and Gong Zhiliang, this monarch and minister pair, also had their own ideas.

This time, letting Bai Yuxia go find Ge Fei was precisely to test whether Ge Fei was usable—even if High Zheng had already confirmed Ge Fei's growth.

Towards High Zheng, Wen Jingxiu had the highest trust. But as the current player, he had to have his own thinking, because High Zheng was already dead, and the world was changing every moment.

The current result was obviously satisfying.

The monarch and minister sat at the same table, slowly drinking a bowl of soup.

Before parting, Wen Jingxiu suddenly asked, "Your nephew at Mu Gu Academy, I hear his studies are very good?"

Gong Zhiliang immediately rose from his seat. "This minister will immediately write a letter to summon him back. When the country has need, even a young child cannot shirk responsibility!"

Wen Jingxiu waved his hand. "Although we say it is a moment of life and death, and we must exhaust all and fight for a slim chance, there is no need to drain the pond to get the fish. We need to give the seed time to sprout."

Bai Yuxia had already sprouted, Gong Tianya was still a seed.

Umbrella-shaped white small flowers danced in the air. The fine fluff on the umbrella surface trembled slightly in the wind, possessing a dreamlike beauty.

They were Fei Xian Luo's petals, and also Fei Xian Luo's seeds.

Ren Qiu Li gazed at them and walked through them.

Yin Xian Lin was strange and dangerous from the beginning. Her shoulders were also heavy, yet her steps were leisurely.

As if appreciating flowers in a courtyard, strolling among clouds.

She casually pointed, fixing a group of pouncing ghost shadows. Ren Qiu Li didn't bother to wipe them off. With her hands behind her back, she brushed past. There were many ghosts inside Yin Xian Lin; killing one would attract a swarm, so she was too lazy to do so.

Her figure was deeply hidden under the Dao robe, a single sword pin held her Dao bun.

In this place where heavenly secrets were chaotic, she had her own guide.

In front, there was an old tree, its branches lush and leaves dense, vines climbing its body. Ren Qiu Li covered it with her palm and moved the tree away as if pushing a door—

A stone cave appeared after the tree, but Lu Shuang He was not in the cave.

Lu Shuang He would not stop in one place to wait for anyone.

Ren Qiu Li walked in, pinched some gold sand, and sprinkled a golden line at the mouth of the cave. Then she waited quietly.

About a quarter of an hour later, a wisp of cold light illuminated the middle of the cave. Lu Shuang He, with white hair draped, appeared from the middle of the cold light. His eyebrows and eyes were emotionless, his Dao robe was tied to his body, and he carried a sword behind him.

"South Dou Hall is gone," Ren Qiu Li said. Her voice seemed sad and yet laughing, very complex.

Being inside Yin Xian Lin was completely isolated from the outside. It was extremely difficult to get news. Especially since they were still nominally wanted criminals by Chu Country, especially now, inside this Yin Xian Lin, there was just one top heavenly pride who was relentlessly chasing them. And the entrance to Yin Xian Lin was guarded by three individuals, all suppressed by the Chu army.

Thus, South Dou Hall had been destroyed for a good while before Ren Qiu Li received the news—of course, this was also expected. Chang Sheng Jun had entrusted them with some hope, and they had done nothing.

Lu Shuang He nodded, not showing any indication of "knowing," and no expression either.

Ren Qiu Li sighed, "I know, you understood that Zhu Ge Yi Xian definitely had a backup plan, so you didn't go for that slim chance of survival. You are unwilling to do unnecessary things, and indeed, it was a meaningless sacrifice."

Lu Shuang He said flatly, "That has nothing to do with it. I just didn't feel South Dou Hall was important."

"South Dou Hall is not at all important?" Even Ren Qiu Li, who supported Lu Shuang He in everything, couldn't help but ask like this.

Lu Shuang He thought for a bit and said, "If South Dou Hall hadn't perished, I could have been a bit more convenient."

Ren Qiu Li sighed for a long time and couldn't help but shake her head. "I know you seek nothing but the Dao and don't care about anything else, but you can't always emphasize it."

"Between two points, a sword is the shortest." Lu Shuang He said, "Circuitous words are unnecessary."

"—Alright!" Ren Qiu Li could only say alright.

Call him cold-blooded, or call him heartless, it was fine. Lu Shuang He wasn't like this today, he had been like this from the beginning.

She should have gotten used to it long ago, although it wasn't easy.

After a while, Ren Qiu Li said again, "Dou Zhao is getting closer and closer."

"Didn't expect your heaven machine chaos array couldn't even trap him," Lu Shuang He said, though there was no surprise in his tone.

Ren Qiu Li said, "His growth speed is very terrifying, not only in combat power but also in his understanding of heavenly secrets. It's becoming increasingly difficult for me to blur his direction."

Lu Shuang He said indifferently, "Then kill him."

Ren Qiu Li frowned, "If Chu Country's first heavenly pride dies here, Chu Country will go completely mad. Song Botuo will go even crazier."

Lu Shuang He was expressionless, "She will go crazy, then what?"

Yes! Then what?

Nothing more than the whole country seeking revenge, destroying South Dou Hall, but South Dou Hall has already perished.

Nothing more than coming up to kill them. But regardless of whether Dou Zhao is here, Chu Country will never let them go.

But... why always stand on the edge of danger, forcing oneself into an even more dangerous place?

"Dou Zhao is also a member of Tai Xu Ge," Ren Qiu Li said.

Lu Shuang He looked at her, his calm eyes asking her, since they were already facing Chu Country, already enemies with Chu Country, what difference would one more Tai Xu Ge make?

"Alright!" Ren Qiu Li quickly got to the formal details. "He is the heir of the Dou family, the next generation's leading figure of Chu Country. He must have some life-saving means. To kill him, these things cannot be ignored."

Lu Shuang He said, "His biggest life-saving means is Song Botuo, but this is Yin Xian Lin. Even Wu Zhao Chang cannot save Wu Ling."

"Where do you plan to kill him?" Ren Qiu Li asked.

"Just in A Bi Ghost Cave. We were going there anyway, so it's convenient to solve it together—" Lu Shuang He said, "Did you find the position?"

Ren Qiu Li said, "We have to wait until tomorrow noon to supplement the last line of the heaven machine."

"Then tomorrow noon," Lu Shuang He said, "Send Dou Zhao off."

The world's first immortal palace, Bing Xian Gong, shattered into Bing Ruins outside Yin Xian Lin.

In the late period of the immortal era, immortal palaces across the world successively fell. The ninth immortal palace, Yu Shou Xian Gong, escaped into Yin Xian Lin, only to be chased by strong enemies and shattered into flying dust.

Both the first immortal palace and the last immortal palace perished in Yin Xian Lin, so the descriptions of Yin Xian Lin always include this sentence—"The place where immortal palaces are broken."

But it is also simultaneously "The land where ghosts are rampant."

Looking at all sides of the present world, no place has stronger ghosts than here.

And A Bi Ghost Cave is viewed by many as the origin of Yin Xian Lin's ghosts.

It is a place within Yin Xian Lin that makes everyone hear of it and change color. From ancient times until now, those who entered A Bi Ghost Cave never returned, destined to suffer endless torment.

Thanks to book friend "Exactly Good Good Good" for becoming the Silver Alliance Master of this book! This is for Red Heart Patrol Heaven's 30th Silver Alliance!

This chapter is completed! "Red Heart Patrol Heaven"